By Deng Ghai Deng
BOR, 04 APRIL, 2019 [JONGLEI]-National Minister of General Education said more than 2.2 million school-aged children remain out of school. Minister Deng Deng Hoc said the situation endangers the country’s future.
While inaugurating seven primary schools built by Save the Children in Bor on Monday, Minister Hoc added the vast majority of out of-school South Sudanese children are girls.
He said every child in South Sudan should have a right to education, regardless of their sex.
Mr. Hoc revealed that some people leave girls behind and they take boys to school.
“It happened to me when I was taken to school in 1972; my maternal uncle took me to school instead of my elder sister. And this is a common factor. We want to end this factor. We want all boys and girls to go to school. If my sister went to school, she would have done as well as I did, perhaps she would have done better than I did.” Deng narrated
Hoc said that the government will work with aid agencies to ensure that more children are enrolled in schools.
“It’s very important that children are going to school because education is right and education is the way to ensure that development goes ahead. Without education you cannot dream of development and with education everything is possible. This is why we want to encourage you today to take your children to school.” Hoc has said.
Ruben Mathiang is assistant manager of education at Save the Children for Jonglei state.
Ruben has said many children learning under the trees are affected by weather conditions; either wind, sunshine, or rains.
“When they are taken into classrooms they will have their full lessons, comfortable sits and attending their lessons and they will learn well. That’s why we decided to construct classrooms for children, so that they improve their learning conditions.” Ruben explained.
Jonglei state governor Philip Aguer praised Save the Children for improving the learning conditions of children across the state.
“It’s these children that are getting education that will take care of scientific research in the future, that will manage the environment, whether it’s in the river or geologists that will take care of what is under the ground,” Philip Aguer said.
“They will be the ones managing our space so that we monitor what is happening globally. Those sponsors and donors that are helping education in South Sudan, I must congratulate them because they are helping our future. So thank you the Norwegian Embassy, thank you Save the Children and thank you the implementer.” Said Aguer.
Governor says the government will work with parents to ensure that children who have dropped out are back to school.
Some Bor residents said some children are not in school because parents are unable to pay school fees.